Ashurst is advising London-listed outsourcing company Xchanging plc on the takeover offer by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), a New York-listed provider of information technology services and solutions.
 
On 12 November CSC made an indicative cash offer of 170p a share for Xchanging, which followed an earlier bid by FTSE 100 firm Capita on 14 October, who announced a cash offer of 160p per share to acquire the company. Subsequently CSC announced on 9 December a cash offer of 190 pence per share, which values the company at approximately £480 million. The acquisition is expected to close in the next six months pending receipt of regulatory approvals.

The bids follow earlier indicative offers from Ebix, an international supplier of software and e-commerce solutions to the insurance industry, to acquire Xchanging for a price of 175p per share, and US private equity firm Apollo Global Management. Apollo subsequently withdrew.
 
The Ashurst team is being led by corporate partners Karen Davies and Dominic Ross, and assisted by senior associate David Dowding and solicitor Harry Thimont. Partners Paul Randall (Share Incentives), Ross Mackenzie (Antitrust) and Jake Green (Regulatory) are also all assisting on the offer from CSC.